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  Friday, Mar. 24 7:30pm ET
Blues shatter another team record
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Al MacInnis and the St. Louis Blues are gearing up for the playoffs.

MacInnis scored his 300th and 301st career goals Friday night, leading the Blues to their fifth straight victory, 5-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Chris Pronger and Ryan Johnson
St. Louis captain Chris Pronger muscles Tampa Bay's Ryan Johnson out of his way.
"I got a couple of good shots away, but the bottom line is it's a big win for us," MacInnis said. "Detroit doesn't seem to want to lose any games. It keeps us focused and sharp. I don't think there is anything wrong to have something to play for at this time of year."

The Blues, with an NHL-best 105 points, lead Detroit by six points in the Central Division. St. Louis established a franchise-record with its 48th win and the Blues are two points from the tying the team mark.

MacInnis, who also had an assist, put the Blues up 2-0 at 7:54 of the first-period with a slap shot from the right point during a power-play.

He scored his second goal on a slap shot from the right circle late in the second. The defenseman recorded his 1,100th career point on a goal against Carolina on Wednesday.

St. Louis goalie Roman Turek, who picked up his 40th win, lost his shutout bid with 4.7 seconds left on Wayne Primeau's goal. Turek has 23 victories and four ties in his past 31 games.

The Lightning, who have won only twice in 13 games (2-10-1), have one goal in the past eight periods.

"That wasn't our best game by a long shot," Lightning coach Steve Ludzik said. "St. Louis is Stanley-Cup bound, there's no question about that. It's like wrestling a gorilla. You don't stop when you want to, you stop when the gorilla wants to."

The Blues killed off nine Tampa Bay power-plays and have allowed just two goals in 66 chances. St. Louis converted two of its eight opportunities.

Lubos Bartecko scored on the Blues' initial shot of the game. Stephane Richer scored a power-play goal late in the opening period in his first game against the Lightning since being traded earlier this season.

Scott Pellerin had a short-handed breakaway goal in the second and Chris Pronger had three assists for the Blues.

Tampa Bay center Brian Holzinger received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for checking Pavol Demitra from behind with 4:10 left in the first.

Demitra left the game with three cuts and swelling on his face. Blues coach Joel Quenneville said Demitra required stitches to close the wounds.

"We've been preaching for three or four years now that the No. 1 thing we want out of our game is hitting from behind," MacInnis said. "I'm not pointing out this particular incident tonight, I didn't exactly see what happened. Besides what happened tonight, the players and our union preach about it and somehow or some way it falls on deaf ears."

Lightning goalie Dan Cloutier, who stopped 20 shots, returned after missing four games with a neck contusion he received March 14 at Montreal.
 


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